Something about anatomy...

Hey everyone,
So my drawing troubles begin and end with people. Somehow animals and still life just make sense, and thats where i'm most comfortable at. But i want to get out of that and work on people, yet somehow all my skill with animals doesn't help me even the slightest bit! it think its in proportions mainly i have trouble; they either turn out fat and stubby, too big a head or whispy tall. Does anyone have any tips or suggestions for daily practice that might help me improve? I could really use it. :(

Hi
The best thing is simple, just do it... a lot. Super cliche, but there's a reason for cliches: they're usually pretty true. So put work into it absolutely every day. I'd advise going with the 30 minute class mode here to get you some quick gestures, and some longer poses that you can measure with. I'd also say look around on the net for different proportional systems. Most every artist from the renaissance used one or made up his own, so I'd say learn one, use it as a basis until you can get a better feel for the forms and don't need it. Do you know the trick to measure by holding up your pencil? Again, just practice it a lot. You may not see the improvement very readily because you'll be seeing it progress, but after a week, then 2 weeks, then 3 weeks look at your earlier work and if you do practice, at least one 30 minute session each day, the improvement will be obvious.

What Gyoung said is very true! You've probably become to used to animals and still life drawings that the human body feels completely alien to draw. You get discouraged by that because you're not used to it working out as well as animals do. But don't give up!

You say you struggle a lot with proportions. I strongly recommend taking a look at www.posemaniacs.com and the site's very own gesture drawing tool. Instead of refining the shapes and details of these drawings, try to break the images down into sections: a circle for a head, a box for the torso etc. Only draw the basics and compare them with your references.

Study people in real life too. Notice where the symmetry is. A belly button usually lines up with the elbow when someone is standing in a relaxed pose with their arms down the sides of their body. The fingertips are halfway down the upper thigh. The crotch is usually around the wrist area.

These key elements can be a very useful guide to help you get used to the human proportions. Practice is the most important element though, but I'm sure you're going to improve rapidly with that! :)